Submarines used to be the most popular settings for thrillers (Das
Boot, U-571, Crimson Tide, The Hunt for Red
October). Characters are stuck at the bottom of the ocean in
a dim and gloomy vessel. How can that not be scary?

In a post-9/11 America, however, it's the airplane that's become
the dim and gloomy vessel for characters to be stuck in. After Wes
Craven's recent hit Red Eye, the latest airplane thriller
to take off (or not) is Flight Plan starring Jodie Foster.

Jodie, who's long rumoured to be a lesbian, plays a steely single
mother of a young girl. Taking her daughter onboard a flight, they
both fall asleep. When Jodie wakes up, her daughter is gone. However,
all the passengers on the plane claimed to have not seen the little
girl, nor is the girl's name registered on the passenger list?/p>

Jodie, who's won the Oscar for Best Actress twice, really knows
how to play strong-willed women. But apart from her stellar performance,
Flight Plan just isn't that great a movie. It tries its darnednest
to keep you on the edge of your seat, but after awhile, the plot
just feels tedious and implausible.